The environmental histories of the Arctic and Antarctica are characterised by contrast and contradiction. These are places that have witnessed some of the worst environmental degradation in recent history. But they are also the locations of some of the most farsighted measures of environmental protection. They are places where people have sought to conquer nature through exploration and economic development, but in many ways they remain wild and untamed. They are the coldest places on Earth, yet have come to occupy an important role in the science and politics of global warming. Despite being located at opposite ends of the planet and being significantly different in many ways, Adrian Howkins argues that the environmental histories of the Arctic and Antarctica share much in common and have often been closely connected. This book also argues that the Polar Regions are strongly linked to the rest of the world, both through physical processes and through intellectual and political themes. As places of inherent contradiction, the Polar Regions have much to contribute to the way we think about environmental history and the environment more generally.

One the least understood places in the world, the North and South poles have captivated the imagine of scientists, adventurers, and ordinary people for centuries. With an abundance of natural resources, including crude oil, and the possibility for new scientific breakthroughs, the race to understand the poles has at various times led many nations to make political claims in a rush to exercise control over this terrain. This comprehensive volume offers detailed accounts of the major polar explorations, the political and scientific stakes in the quest to map and contain the Arctic and Antarctica. Chapters discuss the contest for the North Pole, the "heroic age" of exploration of the South Pole during the beginning of the twentieth century, the evolution of scientific technology and its effect on research in the harsh environment, and the trends in modern polar research.

Current Polar law developments indicate that both the Arctic and the Antarctica will continue to be the focus of growing scientific, international, political, media and public discourse for the foreseeable future. The regulation of resources and associated issues form one of the key areas of Polar law and will thus continue to constitute the crux of legal, geopolitical, socio-economic, and environmental developments. An overview of Polar law questions and topical developments was provided in the pioneering 2010 Polar Law Textbook and in the 2013 Polar Law Textbook II both of which covered a number of topics relevant to the Polar resources debate. Building on this work, this new volume focuses on topical issues of law and resource development in the Polar Regions and covers topics of current and emergent resource-related issues mainly from a legal and political perspective.

This timely Research Handbook explores the concept of polar law as a coherent body of law and as a set of rules and principles that applies to both the Arctic and Antarctic. It captures the evolution of polar law and policy, identifying future directions for research in this emerging and growing field.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

The climate and other characteristics of the polar regions have been major factors in shaping the legal regime applicable to the polar oceans. In Antarctica, states have had to grapple with the question of how to account for developments in the Law of the Sea, while preserving the compromise over sovereignty contained in the Antarctic Treaty. The Arctic also has presented challenges for the Law of the Sea, as illustrated by the continued attention given to special rules for polar shipping. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has led to substantial agreement on the legal regime of ocean spaces. The present volume explores the impact the Convention has had on the polar regions in this respect, including after its entry into force in 1994. To this end, it looks at a number of issue areas in the field of maritime delimitation (baselines, maritime zones, delimitation of maritime zones betweenm neighboring states) and jursidiction (environmental protection, navigation and fisheries) from a bipolar perspective. It is strongly suggested that the legal regime of the polar oceans will be further elaborated to more effectively deal with existing activities or to accommodate new activities. It is likely that the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea will continue to provide the basic legal framework for this exercise and that states will be careful not to unravel the delicate balance contained in it.